Focused at Fifty

"2017 Trinidad, California: Marc, Sheryl, Adam & Dad" As my Dad approaches 90 in September, I have come to lovingly refer to him as seasoned. He gets a kick out of it and laughs every time I tell him that. His hearty laugh is the same as the first time versus the 8th time. I do try and make him laugh. It brings me great joy.  I enjoy our talks and as I've gotten older, I am aware of the nuances in the conversation:  when it's going good we talk for awhile, or when Dad wants to get off and mow the yard, or when he is watching the Golden State Warriors and wants to get off quick to get back to the game!  When I called him this year on Father's Day, we spoke about my recent morning at Cigars International. I had enjoyed a spicy Bloody Mary made with bacon vodka and a Blue Cohiba Robusto  cigar. I like my Bloody Mary's spicy and my cigars mild to medium. It was a good combo which I would have again.  I recounted how I used to smoke Backwoods ci...

Driving to meet the Big Ragu for a late evening beer on a beautiful Schuylkill County night. I roll down the windows, open the sunroof, favorite song playing 🥰. I can smell the impending thunderstorm. Ahhhhhh. I pass something quiçkly on the side of the road and dead deer smell engulfs the car. I start gagging and dry heaving all the way to the bar. Gotta love Skook County! 🙄😂😂😂

"Cheers to Focused at Fifty!" SO. Here was are and here we go again!  I'm on to a NEW DECADE. I am still living by the glass half full mantra. I am still the positive GOOFY happy-go-lucky guy you know. What has changed? Why the name change on the blog? Didn't I say I was GOOFY? I'm really a Pluto fan 💖. LOL But I'll still be Goofy. But now I am also "Focused at Fifty"! It was a tough decision. When I began this as "Frazzled at Forty", I truly was, but now that moniker, identity, and brand just doesn't fit me anymore. After countless hours of therapy (thank God for co-pays!) and just figuring myself the fuck out, I may still have my frazzled moments but I am not longer the epitome of "Frazzled at Forty". As we all do, I have evolved.  I cannot believe that I have had this blog for 10 plus years. It has been a wonderful journey. Yes, I do look back at what I've wrote before, and sometimes cringe. LOL. All good...

"MORTADELLA!" For my last post for my 49th year and my last post for this blog under the Frazzled at 40 blog title, I will be writing about a new food which I tried during this now SEMI-quarantine isolation phase of my life! I again decided to try something that I went ICK over just because of the name and the look: Mortadella. SMELL! I always knew mortadella was some sort of Italian cured meat. It has white, black, and green spots in it. That's all I knew. As well as the name, which in my grammatically challenged college "D" grade receiving Italian translates to "died of" (Morta Della?).  I pledged my fraternity that semester. LOL.  Well  now I know why I received an A in college beer chugging and a D in Italian. Although ... sidebar, I got an A in Italian cinema watching Fellini movies at 7pm on a Friday night class. I think that's because we snuck in cases of beer with my fraternity bros!  My apologies for I digress; back to t...